South Korea, Ghana, Iran, Honduras, Japan, Australia, Cameroon and England were the nations that endured going through the worst campaigns during the 2014 World Cup as any of those squads managed to claim a single victory in the group stages of the worldwide event that concluded a few months ago.

England’s recent string of disappointing results in big tournaments and matches is a factor that has really started to affect the nation as fans are getting increasingly agitated towards their performances.

This is a nation that has well known players such as: Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Joe Hart and Gary Cahill just to name a few. These are players that are performing in some of the top clubs in Europe and play high level matches every single week but when it comes to representing and perform for England everything comes crashing down as they are not able to pick up good results.

Michael Owen is a retired football player who managed to make over 80 appearances for England during his playing time as well as performing in top European club such as: Real Madrid, Manchester United and Liverpool. He has voiced out his opinion concerning the current situation of England.

Owen stated that the fans and supporters of the English national football team have lost faith in them due to all of their series of underwhelming performances.

“Everyone in this room, the fans, us, we have all lost belief in the national team. I don’t think we will get that back until we do something significant at a major tournament. It has been pretty poor for a while now. One good result doesn’t just change that. But there were chinks of light there against Switzerland and the encouraging thing was there were players that will be around for many years to come.” Former player of Liverpool, Michael Owen said to the media.

Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu says that he is astounded by the fact that England have not achieved success in the last four decades despite having some of the best facilities in world football. Barcelona recently brought in defender Jeremy Mathieu from Valencia for £ 16 million, thus making him the world’s most expensive defender about the age of 30. He is also the club’s first signing in the centre back position since 2009. He has been part of the Barcelona team that trained at the St George’s complex – a purpose-built training facility by the England football Association.

It is reported to have cost the England FA more than £ 150 million, thus making it one of the most expensive in the world. After having been amazed at the facilities on offer, Mathieu says that he is lost for words considering that England have not achieved anything at the international stage since the 1966 World Cup victory. England were recently knocked out of the World Cup at the group stages, which was their worst performance in a World Cup since 1958. St George’s complex was built in order to replicate the success achieved by Germany, who had built a facility of their own following disappointments in the late 20th century.

“I don’t know why, having these lovely facilities, England haven’t done well – it is something I cannot answer. The English team would be the right people to answer that question. We only can say that we have enjoyed so much the great facilities and the amazing pitch. All the team have been so happy to train together and to get to know each other much better,” said the 30-year-old. It is expected that Mathieu will be replacing former Barcelona captain Carlos Puyol. He will partner Gerard Pique at the back.~

Rio Ferdinand has claimed that England manager Roy Hodgson does not have the key ingredient that is required to win a major tournament like World Cup or European championship. Hodgson was appointed as the replacement for Fabio Capello before the Euro 2012. England suffered an early exit at the Euro, but there was no criticism of Hodgson since he had been appointed only a few months before the tournament. He was expected to do much better and show his true quality at the World Cup 2014. However, England have once again suffered an early exit.

They were knocked out of the World Cup at the group stages for the first time since 1958. This has asked a lot of questions about Hodgson, who will be staying on in his role. The English FA and the manager himself have confirmed that quitting is not an option right now. However, former England international Ferdinand says that Hodgson may not have the qualities required to win a major tournament. After having played under top managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Ferdinand seems aware of the qualities that a manager needs in order to be successful.

Hodgson has had little success at club level without lifting any major titles like the Premier League the Champions League. “It was always likely England might struggle, as I wrote before the tournament. And there are all kinds of underlying issues to be addressed, as I outlined a fortnight ago. A visionary manager would help. Hodgson is a pleasant-enough man, extremely intelligent and has a CV with enough clubs and countries to show how widely he is respected. But if I’m brutally honest then, for me, he lacks that extra ingredient to set him apart,” said Ferdinand.

Interestingly, Ferdinand was brutally axed from the squad by Hodgson a few years ago.Ferdinand